FAITHFUL WITNESS: EVERY STEP WE TAKE IS LED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT

BY JUNYANG AND ENXIN, SENT FROM SINGAPORE TO THAILAND THROUGH FAITHFUL WITNESS

It has been about a year since we moved from Singapore to Thailand. We thank God for putting the burden of mission abroad on our hearts from the time we were in college.

One of our biggest worries when we responded to God’s call was learning language. When we were in college, we came to Thailand for a short-term mission trip. Whenever I heard Thai, I felt it was a difficult language to learn.

The pronunciation of some characters may be similar to Chinese, but Thai is very difficult to read. However, to live and serve in Thailand, we simply have to learn Thai, because most people in this country cannot speak English or Chinese.

One of the Thai language books they are using in their studies.

Before coming to Thailand, we started learning Thai online. God sent a good Thai Christian teacher to teach us. Before each class, she would pray for us.

I remember praying once and she thanked God for allowing us to be willing to come to Thailand to pass on the love of Jesus to Thai people. This is a great encouragement and impetus for us, prompting us to study harder.

We have studied Thai full-time in Thailand for almost nine months and have seen God help us. From worry and fear at the beginning, we then found great joy in learning.

Junyang and Enxin with their daughters.

God also made our children, who are aged six and four, interested in the language and now they can communicate with Thai people. We have many challenges in learning Thai. Sometimes we feel tired and don’t want to prepare lessons; sometimes we prepare well but can’t memorise the vocabulary; sometimes we remember the vocabulary but get the sentence structure completely wrong.

But, thank God, we know that we do not rely on our own ability to learn Thai – he is with us. Whenever we feel that we can’t do it, God encourages us through time spent with him or with Christian friends.

When we went to church, we couldn’t understand the sermons and hymns but we knew the Holy Spirit was at work because we were worshipping God with our brothers and sisters from other countries.

As our language improved, to the point where we started to understand the content, we realised again the Holy Spirit was helping every step of the way.

This has been a very special experience for us, of being built by the Holy Spirit in our first year in the mission field.

PLEASE PRAY

 Praise God for people like Jungyan and Enxin, prepared to learn a hard language and answer God’s call to serve abroad

 Give thanks for the Holy Spirit and the way he empowers and encourages the people of God

 That their ministry would touch many people in Thailand who have never heard of the Lord Jesus Christ